Diligence Schmiligence - They Needed to Shoot Something
I'm not much for kicking folks at all, never mind when they're down. I've winced at a number of shots taken at Dick Cheney's human clay pigeon, largely on basis of his party affiliation and loyalty to the current administration. I shudder as well at the cheap expressions of concern for the victim that are so strongly expressed that they are obviously intended only for show. He's not a victim like, say, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are victims. He's not a victim like a similar number of former New Orleans residents are victims.
But he does share his victim-hood and its fundamental cause with all of those folks. He's the poster-child (at age 78!) for what happens when you refuse to make use of the human ability to accept and deal with uncertainty, project the possible consequences of your actions accordingly, and perhaps most importantly take responsibility for making reasonable and appropriate decisions based on those findings and be accountable for the outcome. Dick Cheney and the administration he is a part of have as we know a standard pattern of totally failing to follow those seemingly basic principles of human behavior and hence are constantly in violation of what must be considered the basic rules of governance that we expect from those pretending that we elected them.
Impeachment is inevitable. We cannot have enshrined in important powerful governmental roles people who do not subscribe to the basic principles of being accountable to the American people, accepting reality and the associated uncertainties, making at-times painful but reasoned decisions based on that reality, and taking responsibility for their decisions.
And that is my big message here. The "I" word. It is showing up now more frequently even in the conservative-biased corporate media including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. The word "impeachment" needs to be on our lips ready for sharing at the slightest opportunity.
The indomitable Ms Ivins has some lone-star insights to offer on Cheney's most recent victim:
Of course the jokes are flying all over Texas — what's the fine for shooting a lawyer? — and so forth. Dick-Cheney-shooting-Harry-Whittington is fraught, as they say, with irony. It's not as though the ground in Texas is littered with liberal Republicans. I think the vice president winged the only one we've got.
Not that I accuse Harry Whittington of being an actual liberal — only by Texas Republican standards, and that sets the bar about the height of a matchbook. Nevertheless, Whittington is seriously civilized, particularly on the issues of crime, punishment and prisons. He served on both the Texas Board of Corrections and on the bonding authority that builds prisons. As he has often said, prisons do not curb crime, they are hothouses for crime: "Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants."
In the day, whenever there was an especially bad case of new-ignoramus-in-the-legislature — a "lock 'em all up and throw away the key" type — the senior members used to send the prison-happy, tuff-on-crime neophyte to see Harry Whittington, a Republican after all, for a little basic education on the cost of prisons.
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I am not trying to make a big deal out of a simple hunting accident for partisan purposes — just thought it was a good chance to pay tribute to old Harry, a thoroughly decent man. However, I was offended by the never-our-fault White House spin team. Cheney adviser Mary Matalin said of her boss, "He was not careless or incautious (and did not) violate any of the (rules). He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do." Of course he did, Ms. Matalin, he shot Harry Whittington.
Which brings us to one of the many paradoxes of the Bush administration, which claims to be creating "the responsibility society." It's hard to think of a crowd less likely to take responsibility for anything they have done or not done than this bunch. They're certainly good at preaching responsibility to others — and blaming other people for everything that goes wrong on their watch.
[clip]
But he does share his victim-hood and its fundamental cause with all of those folks. He's the poster-child (at age 78!) for what happens when you refuse to make use of the human ability to accept and deal with uncertainty, project the possible consequences of your actions accordingly, and perhaps most importantly take responsibility for making reasonable and appropriate decisions based on those findings and be accountable for the outcome. Dick Cheney and the administration he is a part of have as we know a standard pattern of totally failing to follow those seemingly basic principles of human behavior and hence are constantly in violation of what must be considered the basic rules of governance that we expect from those pretending that we elected them.
Impeachment is inevitable. We cannot have enshrined in important powerful governmental roles people who do not subscribe to the basic principles of being accountable to the American people, accepting reality and the associated uncertainties, making at-times painful but reasoned decisions based on that reality, and taking responsibility for their decisions.
And that is my big message here. The "I" word. It is showing up now more frequently even in the conservative-biased corporate media including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. The word "impeachment" needs to be on our lips ready for sharing at the slightest opportunity.
The indomitable Ms Ivins has some lone-star insights to offer on Cheney's most recent victim:
Of course the jokes are flying all over Texas — what's the fine for shooting a lawyer? — and so forth. Dick-Cheney-shooting-Harry-Whittington is fraught, as they say, with irony. It's not as though the ground in Texas is littered with liberal Republicans. I think the vice president winged the only one we've got.
Not that I accuse Harry Whittington of being an actual liberal — only by Texas Republican standards, and that sets the bar about the height of a matchbook. Nevertheless, Whittington is seriously civilized, particularly on the issues of crime, punishment and prisons. He served on both the Texas Board of Corrections and on the bonding authority that builds prisons. As he has often said, prisons do not curb crime, they are hothouses for crime: "Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants."
In the day, whenever there was an especially bad case of new-ignoramus-in-the-legislature — a "lock 'em all up and throw away the key" type — the senior members used to send the prison-happy, tuff-on-crime neophyte to see Harry Whittington, a Republican after all, for a little basic education on the cost of prisons.
[clip]
I am not trying to make a big deal out of a simple hunting accident for partisan purposes — just thought it was a good chance to pay tribute to old Harry, a thoroughly decent man. However, I was offended by the never-our-fault White House spin team. Cheney adviser Mary Matalin said of her boss, "He was not careless or incautious (and did not) violate any of the (rules). He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do." Of course he did, Ms. Matalin, he shot Harry Whittington.
Which brings us to one of the many paradoxes of the Bush administration, which claims to be creating "the responsibility society." It's hard to think of a crowd less likely to take responsibility for anything they have done or not done than this bunch. They're certainly good at preaching responsibility to others — and blaming other people for everything that goes wrong on their watch.
[clip]
posted by Sir Gumbo at 11:04 PM
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